Rose Avenue Public School

675 Ontario Street

General Purpose Room (Small Gymnasium)

View the Meeting Notice here.

City Planning staff are starting a review and preparing a planning framework report for the area bounded by Bloor Street East, Howard Street, Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street.  This meeting will provide information about the planning framework, background information and an opportunity to identify key issues for the future planning of this area.  It is also an opportunity to express interest in participating in a future working group.

For more information, contact Allison Meistrich, Senior Planner, at 416-392-7363 or ameistr@toronto.ca.

The Story of Human Rights

“A striking short film defining one of the world’s most misunderstood subjects: human rights.”

Tuesdays from 5-8 pm and Saturdays from 2-5 pm (See poster for pool guidelines).

View the Report Back Invite here

The fate of nine school pools in Toronto remains unknown until February, but two pools — Jarvis Collegiate and Queen Alexandra — have found enough money to keep running.

The YMCA and RBC Foundation wanted to help keep the pools open in high-need areas. They teamed up to offer these two communities access to free recreational swimming for the past two months.

Each week, children, youth and their families came down to their school pool to enjoy a swim, keep fit and have fun. The pools were supervised by trained and certified YMCA lifeguards.

“I live right around the corner, so it’s great to get to come and hang out at the pool with my friends. If we couldn’t come here, we’d probably be at home watching TV. I hope we’ll get to keep coming,” said 11-year-old Erin.

Since the program was such a success in the community, the YMCA will begin offering swimming lessons and lifeguard training in February at both Jarvis Collegiate and Queen Alexandra.

- taken from http://www.ymcatoronto.org/en/whats-happening/free-swim-program.html

Throughout the course of the St James Town Initiative, residents have expressed several challenges that they face on a daily basis. Many of the neighbourhood’s issues can be solved by innovative and targeted policy interventions at all three levels of government.  The city, provincial, and federal governments all have important roles to play in the improvement of the community and in addressing the social determinants of health.  In a new series of policy briefs, the Wellesley Institute’s Matt Kanter analyzes specific challenges for residents of St James Town and sets out clear and achievable recommendations for policy action, listed below as policy briefs.

Integration of Concept Mapping and Photovoice:  Understanding Immigrant  Perceptions of Neighbourhood Influences on Health.

Policy Brief: Immigrant employment

Policy Brief: Language training

Policy Brief: The improvement of living conditions

The results of this study highlight the complementary nature of CBPR approaches, photovoice and concept mapping. The sequential integration of the results from the photovoice project with concept mapping extended the findings by systematically and rigorously building a consensus framework of health impacting factors in the St. James Town neighbourhood.

SJT Initiative’s Integration of Concept Mapping & Photovoice Report

Throughout the course of the St James Town Initiative, residents have expressed several challenges that they face on a daily basis. Many of the neighbourhood’s issues can be solved by innovative and targeted policy interventions at all three levels of government.  The city, provincial, and federal governments all have important roles to play in the improvement of the community and in addressing the social determinants of health.  In a new series of policy briefs, the Wellesley Institute’s Matt Kanter analyzes specific challenges for residents of St James Town – immigrant employment , language training , and the improvement of living conditions – and sets out clear and achievable recommendations for policy action.

“When I arrived in Canada at the age of twelve, I was excited and looking forward to meet new people. I didn’t know how the school system is going to be and I didn’t have anyone to help me accommodate to this new culture and environment. I was surprised when I saw people from more than 150 countries; it was wonderful to have multicultural society. Most of the people in St. James Town are helpful and friendly. However, language was an issue for me. I studied back home in another language and it was hard for me to switch everything to English. I actually knew some English when I arrived in Toronto, but I was feeling anxious to speak.

When I joined the elementary school, I was stunned and discouraged to see my classmates speaking good English. I didn’t want students to make fun of me. So I sat in the class for about one month and I avoided speaking to students. Sometimes I wished I was back home, but the war in my country forced me to move to Canada. So I was grateful that I got an opportunity to study and live in a peaceful place. My parents and teachers told me English is not a huge problem. They told me it takes time and if I try hard, my English will improve rapidly. I realized if I don’t try, I will go nowhere. I knew the basics in English and my accent differed from my classmates. Students from my country translated the instructions given by my teachers. Eventually, I started to speak the English that I knew from back home. Some people were surprised to see me speaking English, some people were correcting my mistakes and some people made disappointing comments.

As days passed, I started to make lots of friends. In the beginning most of my friends were from my country. But eventually I started to communicate with students from other countries and most of them were happy to see me trying to chat with them. My English improved day by day and there will always be room for growth. I was glad that I knew the basics in English. The English that I learned back in my home school helped me to pick up English faster. It’s tough to learn any language if you don’t know the basics. It took me approximately two years to fully explain my thoughts, communicate well with people and to get evolved in Canadian culture. Later on I started to assist new immigrant students because I knew their conflicts.

I think St. James Town is a great place for newcomers. There are lots of resources, cultural organizations and services for newcomers at St. James Town. There is no doubt that living in St. Jamestown has helped me to overcome my struggles. Since there are many diverse immigrants at St. Jamestown, newcomers feel comfortable living here. I had access to resources and I met different people from different countries at St. Jamestown. There were numerous students like me and I heard their stories and we had similar problems. Sometimes there were misunderstandings because of the language barrier. Nevertheless it gave us an opportunity to work together and make new connections.”

Sachet Siwakoti in The Bulletin

There will be lots of food and activities for people of all ages.

The festivities will be located on Bleeker Street, behind the Wellesley Community Centre.